State Board of Education holding a hearing today in Austin on the teaching of evolution. In these troubled economic times, don't our state legislators deserve to spend $140,000 on chandeliers and expensive granite countertops for their members-only lounge? Progress Coffee is selling food for donations tomorrow (from 6:30am-7pm); all proceeds will go to Bread for the World and Capital Area Food Bank. Family security lanes now in use at ABIA. Federal officials holding a hearing on the South Texas border fence. Seven Katy varsity cheerleaders indicted for hazing charges. Will Smith and Tony Romo stopped by a pep rally at Lake Highlands High School yesterday....

Austin firefighters' union not happy about random drug testing proposal. More on the train derailment that occurred downtown this morning. Crews cleaning up the downtown oil tank which earlier this year spilled into Waller Creek. Soon Georgetown residents won't be allowed to park in yards anymore. Two Republican members of the Lege ask AG Abbott about possible state anti-immigration options....

evso/Flickr The City of Austin has set up a site online to serve as a local carbon reduction resource. Austin Public Library Foundation hires new Executive Director. Dripping Springs Rep. Patrick Rose testified about the Pedernales CoOp before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in D.C. today. Swimsuits, sleeping masks and more were found at the home of Billy Dan Carroll and said to be used in his crimes against children. Alleged gang leader......

Residents near the proposed homeless RV park in East Austin are not happy about the idea. Austin's Director of Communications resigned yesterday. Local boxer charged with manslaughter for a May 2nd hit-and-run. Community groups petition Travis County not to get involved with ICE's Criminal Alien Program. Elgin residents might want to boil their water; 200,000 gallons of sewage found to be flowing into Little Sandy Creek....

Texas Insurance Council estimates Wednesday night's storms caused $25 million worth of damage. During the storm, someone broke into a South Austin public storage facility. Job growth for our area lower than it was last year. Texas Border Coalition suing to stop construction of Bush's border fence....

Thousands and thousands and thousands of people are dead in China. McCain comes out in favor of carbon caps. Teenagers who smoke pot are likely to be depressed later on, gov't says. Biggest immigration raid of the year, at a meat packing plant, means hundreds are arrested. If Congress is banning flavored cigarettes, why aren't menthols part of the package? Could this be true? Man claims Jet Blue made him sit on a toilet......

Body found this afternoon at Lady Bird Lake. Man drives the wrong way on IH35 near Jarrell, two are killed. Lawyer Adam Reposa jailed for making obscene gesture at Travis County judge. Supreme Court rules death by lethal injection constitutional; executions very likely to be back on in Texas....

Adrian Jaimes found safe last night in North Austin; police are still searching for his kidnappers. Whole Foods: "more interested in cheap tomatoes than the well-being of those working to get produce to the store." Parents from NYOS charter school met with school officials this morning to discuss death of student last week; memorial service for Tevin Park-Flowers tomorrow. Convicted rapist escapes South Texas prison by leaving through an unlocked door. Women targeting businessmen at fancy Dallas hotels, slipping them the Mickey Finn to steal their watches....

Six missing after refinery explosion in Georgia. Economic stimulus package ready for president's signature. Checks should start arriving in May. Border-control activists not fans of McCain's rise. Does this guy creep anyone else out?...

15% of items put out for recycling in Austin end up in a landfill anyway. Dewhurst doubts TxDOT's claims of being really low on funds. Speaking of TxDOT, you can vote on their site for the next state license plate design. Voting ends next Monday. Illegal immigrants moving to Texas in large numbers from . . . Oklahoma and Arizona?...

This weekend human rights activists protested against the family immigration detention center in Taylor. Body left for San Antonio medical examiner after traffic accident wasn't dead yet. McKinney man caught after following UPS trucks and stealing packages left outside homes. Was Jessica Simpson's appearance at the Cowboys game yesterday the reason they lost? If not, can we blame her anyway?...

Photo by jcolman on flickrSam Kambo has been living in Texas since 1994 when he came to Austin to attend UT. After his graduation from UT, he worked for the LCRA. At least, he did until the fall of 2006, when he was arrested and detained in San Antonio for allegedly taking part in a mass murder. Before Kambo came to Texas, he was one of eight leaders of a coup in Sierra Leone in......

AFS Essentials Presents Black DjuTuesday, November 13thAlamo Drafthouse South Lamar (1120 S. Lamar)7pm, $4 / Free to AFS Members[info] | [tickets]It's bad enough being a stranger in a strange land, but when you need assistance from the local people to help solve the mysterious disappearance of your father, things can get downright maddening. Tonight, the Austin Film Society sends us on a suspenseful quest as they presents Black Dju, the fifth offering in the......

All state constitutional amendments passed in the election yesterday. Famed architect Frank Gehry is being sued by MIT for the design for the Stata Center. "Product of a judicial system dominated by men": According to the Board of immigration appeals, genital cutting isn't enough to grant asylum, but forced sterilization is. Anti-Musharraf protesters angry about emergency rule were beaten by police in Pakistan today. Surgery to remove 4 extra limbs from an Indian girl......

Have a happy and safe Halloween! If you're headed to Sixth Street, leave your light saber/fake gun/billy club at home. Williamson County won't kick privately-run immigration detention center out of Taylor now that they aren't liable for it. Some Texas prosecutors will wait for the Supreme Court's decision next year before asking judges to set execution dates. After a soldier died in a Ft. Hood training exercise, his supervising officer is facing court martial.......

Mayor Wynn says, "We're taking action today that will lower the cost of utility bills, make housing more affordable, help improve air quality and take critical steps in the fight against global warming," as City Council adopts codes to make new homes zero energy capable. El Paso high school student collapses and dies after finishing the PSAT. Blanco High School pranksters put bloody deer carcass in Comfort High School bus. Bird conservationists are opposed......

An ominous black piñata shaped like a B-2 bomber greets visitors walking through the doors at Arthouse in downtown Austin. Around the corner stands a John Deere tractor made entirely of clay; a string of Japanese fireworks dangle from the ceiling. Five of the state’s most under-recognized artists are featured in the new Arthouse Texas Prize exhibit, which marries unexpected beauty with mind-bending artistic statements. The exhibit was designed to celebrate the broad spectrum of......

John Vanderslice's latest album, The Emerald City, is a gorgeous glimpse into the mind of a great songwriter - a man attempting to discuss love, loss, and frustration with things outside of his control, both internally and externally. The record is both politically charged and characteristically subtle, bringing Vanderslice to the forefront of his genre. His deft perseverance towards intelligently curated lyrics coupled with an impressive array of acoustic instruments capture the mind and heart,......

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to. After cooling down from a hot weekend of many badass Sunset Junction Street Fair photo dispatches, LAist asked......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

Bishop Allen The Broken String (Dead Oceans) So, the Brooklyn-based (man, it gets tiring typing that out every week) blog band Bishop Allen are a sort of east coast Voxtrot in that they've wet the pop-frenzied masses with a series of well-received EPs over the last couple of years. Instead of releasing an album full of highly anticipated new material, however, they've polished a bunch of old tracks (and previously only available live songs)......

Daron Shaw, a Government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, recently asked the question: Do Texans hold the same extreme opinions on certain hot-button issues as many of our state representatives and senators would have us believe? Are the polarizing stances on issues like, say, immigration, gay rights, abortion and religious expression taken by our state lawmakers actually reflective of the voters that they represent? Or are Texas politicians just creating fault lines......

We expect this to be the most popular news bits ever, as well as the best day ever, since everybody's favorite drive-in eatery (Sonic, duh) is giving away FREE root beer floats tonight from 8pm till midnight. Go ahead, locate every Sonic in town and drive around getting free floats until you can't drink root beer floats anymore. This is such a big deal, even Forbes wrote about it. And if you don't get......

A father and son were walking home from church last night in the Capital Plaza area (around Cameron Rd. and Reinli) when they were robbed. After taking everything the immigrant family had on them, the robbers shot and killed the teenage boy, in front of his father. If you were in the area behind Popeye's Chicken and the Austin Cornerstone Church last night around 10pm and witnessed anything, please call 477-3588 (the homicide tip......

And he's telling us all about it. Mr. Bush is just not the man Dowd thought he was when Dowd first signed on with him, he indicated today in a New York Times interview. Dowd, an Austinite and longtime key Texas Democratic strategist, switched parties and joined the Bush campaign team in 1999 because he believed then-Governor Bush would make a sincere attempt to bridge the partisan divide. His disillusionment during the Clinton administration left......

Those who grew up with NPR as auxiliary parent will doubtless recognize the names Maria Hinojosa and Ray Suarez, the honored guests at Spark: KLRU's Engaging Speaker Series this Wednesday. (So, do their pictures match your mental conception of how they'd look? 'Cuz the first time we saw a pic of Terry Gross, we flipped out.) Hinojosa, the anchor of NPR's Latino USA, is also most recently the author of a memoir of Mexican-American......

When you see Damien Brockmann strolling down Congress Avenue, tip your hat, or at least offer a salute nestled somewhere between the Queen's wave and Truman Capote's famed fingers-to-forehead wrist-flick. Why? Because Citizen Damien has been tirelessly laboring to rescue America from its fekockteh political scene. Lucky for us, he's intent on saving Austin first, and doing it by offering up a new website called BillHop.com. A wiki/blog/safe haven for political junkees, the site tracks......

Cine Las Americas is hosting a special screening of the critically acclaimed Letters from the Other Side. The documentary on Mexican immigration was directed by Austinite Heather Courtney. The free screening at the George Washington Carver Museum is open to the public and will feature a Q&A with women featured in the film, with a reception to follow. Beyond just a screening, the evening is a celebration of sorts, as the women from the......

City counsel members from Farmers Branch, a suburb of Dallas, unanimously approved fines for landlords who rent to illegal immigrants, making English the city's official language and allowing local authorities to screen suspects in police custody to check their immigration status. Mexico's largest airline, Aeroméxico, will launch the only nonstop international service from Austin, with four weekly flights starting Dec. 15. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has made the first step in......

A recent post about a rally in support of immigration rights inspired several impassioned comments from you. Therefore, we imagine the documentary Letters from the Other Side will be of great interest to all who care about this pressing socio-political concern. The new PBS documentary, which features deeply personal stories of Mexican families torn apart as husbands, fathers, sons and brothers travel to the United States to find work, will be screened at KLRU studios......